Iran acquires digital data seized in Albanian police raid on MKO camp

July 4, 2023 - 22:41

TEHRAN- An Albanian police search operation recently resulted in the seizure of a number of electronic gadgets and storage devices from a camp affiliated to the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO/MEK), an Iranian government official revealed on Monday.

Sepehr Khalaji, the chairman of the Iranian government’s media council, sent a tweet announcing the arrival in Iran of a cargo containing hard drives and computer cases that belonged to the MKO.

Data extraction from these gadgets and the discovery of the terrorist group’s linkages and sabotage cells are now being worked on by Iranian experts, he continued.

“The results have been promising so far,” the official said.

Since the Islamic Revolution’s triumph in 1979, the MKO has committed several terrorist acts against Iranian citizens and government figures.

About 12,000 of the roughly 17,000 Iranians who have perished in terrorist assaults over the past 40 years have been victims of the MKO atrocities.

On June 20, Albanian police forces invaded the MKO camp, also known as Ashraf-3, in Tirana’s northwest because it was involved in “terror and cyber-attacks” against international organizations.

150 computers connected to terrorist operations were confiscated by authorities. During clashes in the camp, at least one person died and several more were hurt.

More than a week later, police in Albania entered the Ashraf-3 camp again and security forces were deployed at the entrance to the camp and controlled all vehicles leaving the site.

In a statement released on Sunday, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry maintained that after many successful operations that resulted in the arrest of MKO members, the government is actively pursuing terrorists outside its borders.

Ministry of Intelligence has put out a statement enumerating the acts of sabotage carried out by the MKO over the last years, vowing to continue its countermeasures against the terrorist group.

The statement said that in the run-up to the raid by the Albanian police into the MKO camps in Tirana, the criminal group had done its utmost to carry out terrorist attacks across the countries but thanks to the countermeasures and traps set by the Ministry of Intelligence almost all of the attacks were thwarted.

The ministry said it had arrested a team of four MKO members in Mazandaran Province in May 2022 after they attacked public properties with handmade projectiles.

In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel was published on Friday, Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama stated that the MKO members must leave the country if it plans to use Albanian land to fight against Iran.

Rama said the MKO has violated the agreement according to which they were relocated to Albania from Iraq.

“We have had the MKO in our country for several years. They are welcome, but on the condition that they do not use Albania as a platform for their political operations. Our Iranian guests have repeatedly violated this agreement,” he said.

Responding to a question on the alleged hack of Iranian government computers in Tehran, the Albanian prime minister said, “Albania has no intention of being at war with the Iranian regime. Albania does not accept anyone who has abused our hospitality.”

He also said that Albania accepted thousands of the MKO members at the request of the Barack Obama administration.

Rama pointed out that the MKO has turned Albania into a trench in its campaign against Iran. “Our country is used as a trench in a war that is not ours, it does not work! Of course, they have every right to fight for their freedom, but to do so they must leave Albania.”

Last week, in a series of tweets, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani emphasized the terrorist nature of the MKO and its recent skirmishes with Albanian police, stating that the anti-Iran terror group would always pose a threat to the security of its host nations.

He said that MKO had been kicked out from Iraq because many other nations had refused to recognize it owing to its terrorist nature.

As a result of pressure from its Western allies, Albania has hosted the terrorist group and thousands of its members for ten years.

He then expressed optimism that Albania would “make up for its mistake of hosting this terrorist cult.”

Israel’s spy service, Mossad, used MKO operatives to assassinate a number of Iranian nuclear scientists in the recent years.